College Students protested against Sexual Assault at Universities across the United States

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College students across the United States staged socially distanced demonstrations to protest against sexual assault on college campuses. The organizers said that BU has a rape problem and signs taped all over Boston University’s campus on Monday morning. More than 600 students had participated in the protest there. The fliers posted around that campus and said, “Minnesota State University, Mankato has a problem with consent. End the silence. End the violence”. Students on the campus of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania woke up on their first day of in-person classes to find the message. There was a written message with chalk on a pathway through the center of their school, it says, “After I was raped, I was so afraid to simply walk around campus”. The protests were organized by the University Survivors Movement.

Point to be noted that the University Survivors Movement is an international coalition of student activists working to address the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. They were designed to be COVID-safe by focusing on flyers and chalk messages rather than gathering in big crowds. Activists from at least 17 schools signed up to participate ahead of the planned actions. The advocacy group RAINN said more than 1 in 4 undergraduate female students and 1 in 15 undergraduate male students experience sexual assault or rape through physical force, incapacitation, or violence while in college. Reporting levels on college campuses are low, as only 20% of female college student victims informed the police when they assaulted. A survivor who helped organize the protest at Boston University, Prisha Sujin Kumar informed a news outlet about the issue.

Sujin Kumar said, “I cried as I walked through campus because it was covered in messages supporting survivors and calling out BU. I hadn’t felt at home at BU since my assault, but it finally felt like I was safe since I was surrounded by a study body that I know actually cares, even if my administration doesn’t”. She said BU hasn’t reached out to her or other organizers in response to the demonstration. Grace Verbrugge helped to organize the protest at Gettysburg College. She said, “They’re just not communicating that, which is going to decrease reporting even further”. Gettysburg provided a statement to CBS News and said it remained committed to providing resources for all of our students during the pandemic and was still making counseling services available virtually for students on or off-campus.